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Topic: Do you guys stir your mash? (Read 8164 times)

I was under the assumption that the mash should be moving or stirred to try to regulate a constant temperature throughout depending on where the source of heat came from. Is this wrong? Thanks in advance for any advice.

If the goal is to maintain a constant temperature throughout the mash tun or vessel, then recirculating the mash will help with that. On a practical level, it really is not necessary for most recipe sizes done on a home level. The aim for home brewers should be to make the process repeatable and consistent, not necessarily maintaining an absolute temperature throughout the mash tun. In my experiences, if you properly mix in your grains and keep from getting 'dough balls' or other areas where the grain is not wetted properly, then you really should not need to mix during the mashing process. Of course, much of this also depends upon each individual's equipment and ability to keep the mash temperatures at a reasonable level either through insulation or heating.

Early on I was stirring my mash every 15 minutes and found my heat loss was terrible (10 to 12 degrees F). Now, I keep my mash vessel in a warm environment and insulate it and have a temperature loss of 2 to 3 degrees F at the maximum.

I only stir the mash after initial grain add, 5 minutes in when taking temp reading to see if I hit my mash temp and 20 minutes in before taking my pH reading. But I have started stirring like mad during the temp increase to mash out and then during the whole 10-15 minute mashout rest. My efficiency went up a few points doing that.

I stir like mad to insure grains get nice and soaked, if they aren't then you won't get good quality beer.